Wehrmacht

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Balkenkreuz (an alternative version of the Iron Cross), the emblem of the Wehrmacht, which superseded the Reichswehr on 15 October 1935 in accordance to the "Law for the construction of the Wehrmacht" (de) from 16 March 1935.
Decal for German helmet or Stahlhelm (Heer), model 1942

Wehrmacht (in English: "armed forces", literally "defence power") was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1946/47. The Wehrmacht consisted of the Heer (German Army), the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) and the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). The Waffen-SS, an initially small paramilitary section of Heinrich Himmler's Allgemeine SS that grew to nearly a million strong during World War II, was not part of the Wehrmacht, but subject to its Supreme Command.

Before the rise of the NSDAP, the term Wehrmacht was used in a generic sense to describe armed forces of any nation, being utilized as the "home defense" version of the more general Streitmacht. For example, the term Britische Wehrmacht would identify the British armed forces. Article 47 of the Weimar Constitution of 1919 declared "Der Reichspräsident hat den Oberbefehl über die gesamte Wehrmacht des Reiches" (meaning: "The Reichspräsident holds supreme command of all armed forces of the Reich"). To make a distinction, the term Reichswehr was commonly used to identify the German armed forces.

In 1935, the Reichswehr was renamed Wehrmacht. After World War II and under the Allied occupation of Germany, the Wehrmacht was abolished. When West Germany remilitarized in 1955, its newly-created armed forces became known as the Bundeswehr ("Federal Defence Force"). East Germany's armed forces, formally established in 1956, were known as the National People's Army (Nationale Volksarmee). When East Germany (the German Democratic Republic) was incorporated into "West Germany" (the Federal Republic of Germany) in 1990, much of the Volksarmee property and some of the staff were also incorporated into the Bundeswehr.

Hence the term Wehrmacht customarily refers to Germany's armed forces during the WWII Germany era and, both in German and English. Note: It is incorrect to equate Wehrmacht with only the army (Wehrmacht Heer). Wehrmacht vehicles used by Heer, Luftwaffe or Kriegsmarine had license plates with WH, WL or WM.

History

Wehrmacht military chaplains (Militärgeistliche)
Girl gives flowers to the soldiers in uniform headed for the Western Front.
A young soldier of the German Wehrmacht after a combat operation on the Eastern Front near Oryol, 1943.
Gefallener Soldat in Schneelandschaft (fallen soldier in snow landscape), painting from Carolus Vocke, 1942

Reichswehr

After the World War I armistice of November 11, 1918, the German armed forces were dubbed the Friedensheer (peace army) in January 1919. In March the Reichstag passed a law founding a 420,000 strong preliminary army as the Vorläufige Reichswehr. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were announced in May, and in June, Germany was forced to sign it. The terms imposed severe constraints on the size of Germany's armed forces. The army was limited to one hundred thousand men with an additional fifteen thousand in the navy (Reichsmarine). The fleet was to consist of a maximum of six battleships, six cruisers, and twelve destroyers. Submarines, tanks and heavy artillery were forbidden, and the air force was entirely dissolved and conscription abolished. A new post-war force, the Reichswehr, was established on 23 March 1921.

The German government immediately began covertly circumventing these conditions. A secret collaboration with the Soviet Union began after the treaty of Rapallo. Major-General Otto Hasse (de) traveled to Moscow in 1923 to further negotiate the terms. Germany assisted the Soviets with some industrialization, and Soviet officers were to be trained by German officers. German tank and air force specialists would be able, in return, to exercise in the Soviet Union, and German chemical weapons research and manufacture could be carried out there along with other projects. Around three hundred German pilots received training at Lipetsk, and some Panzer training took place near Kazan. It has been said that toxic gas was developed at Saratov for use by the German army, although there is no evidence of this.

From 1934

After the death of President Paul von Hindenburg on August 2, 1934, the German Chancellor Adolf Hitler assumed the office of Reichspräsident, and thus became Commander-in-Chief. All officers and soldiers of the German armed forces now had to swear a personal oath of loyalty to their Führer (leader). Germany now proceeded to openly flout the military restrictions imposed upon them in the Versailles Treaty, and conscription was reintroduced on 16 March 1935.

While the size of the standing army was to remain at about 100,000 men, as decreed by the treaty, a new group of conscripts equal to this size would receive training each year. The conscription law introduced the name Wehrmacht, so this could be regarded as its founding date. Their insignia was a simpler version of the Iron Cross (the straight-armed so-called Balkenkreuz or beamed cross) that had been used as an aircraft and tank marking in late World War I. The Wehrmacht was officially and formally pronounced on 15 October 1935.

Compulsory military service

On 16 March 1935, general conscription, which was also prohibited in the Treaty of Versailles, was reinstated. This step had been planned since 1933. The gaps created by the first increase in the army on 1 October 1934 as "cell division" were initially filled, more poorly than properly, with volunteers who would serve for 12 months (comparable with the one-year volunteers or Einjährig-Freiwillige of the old German armies) and then be released into the reserves. With the “Law on the Development of the Wehrmacht” (Gesetz über den Aufbau der Wehrmacht), the Reichswehr was renamed the "German Wehrmacht". The duration of military service was initially set at one year and was extended to two years in August 1936. The first conscripts were those born in 1914. The German peacetime army was to consist of 36 divisions with a total of 580,000 soldiers and would be battle-ready by 1939.

World War II

The total number of soldiers who served in the Wehrmacht during its existence from 1935 until 1945 is believed to approach 18.2 million. This figure was put forward by historian Rüdiger Overmans and represents the total number of people who ever served in the Wehrmacht, and not the force strength of the Wehrmacht at any point. About 2.3 million Wehrmacht soldiers were killed in action:

  • 550,000 died from non-combat causes;
  • 2 million missing in action and unaccounted for after the war
  • 459,000 POW deaths, of whom 77,000 were in the custody of the U.S., UK, and France.
    • POW dead includes 266,000 in the post war period after June 1945, primarily in Soviet captivity.

Dissolution

The official dissolution of the Wehrmacht began with the German Instrument of Surrender of 8 May 1945. Reasserted in Proclamation No. 2 of the Allied Control Council on 20 September 1945, the dissolution was officially declared by ACC Law No. 34 of 20 August 1946.[1][2]

Some notable officers

See also

Further reading

External links

References

  1. ↑ Allied Control Authority (1945). "Enactments and Approved Papers of the Control Council and Coordinating Committee" (PDF). Library of Congress.
  2. ↑ Allied Control Authority (1946a). "Enactments and Approved Papers of the Control Council and Coordinating Committee" (PDF). Library of Congress.
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